Tough Love
by Darkness Takes Over
Summary: They both had hidden feelings for each other. But were too proud to show them. Afraid of the consequences of letting down their tough exterior and letting their true feelings come to the surface. Perhaps they were afraid to show their tough love. Complete 8th March Please review.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Nightmare on Elm Street or any of the characters involved. They belong to Wes Craven and New Line Cinema.

**Title: **Tough Love

**Genre:** Angst/Drama/Romance

**Summary**: They both had hidden feelings for each other. But were too proud to show them. Afraid of the consequences of letting down their tough exterior and letting their true feelings come to the surface. Perhaps they were afraid to show their tough love.

**Author's Note:** This is a small short chaptered story showing what I would have liked to see in the film - a little romance or hints to romantic feelings involving Roland Kincaid and Taryn White. Kincaid/Taryn.

**Tough Love**

**Chapter One **

Westin Hills loomed on the edge of the small town of Springwood, Ohio. It was just past 1am when another new patient arrived through it's doors, a young disturbed man who had just witnessed his own sister's corpse in his dream, his nightmare. Roland Kincaid lay strewn on his hospital bed, going in and out of consciousness. His body jerked, his arms trying to push away the doctors and nurses that were trying to stitch his lacerated wrists, to stop the stem of blood flowing from his severed flesh. Finally after pinning his arms to the bed, they were able to do so. Dr Sims sighed as she stepped back as she finished injecting him with a light sedative, making him fall into slumber. Thankfully, his parents had called the ambulance on time to save him. As for his younger sister Rochelle, well she had unfortunately passed away having taken her own life. The question was why? She was so young, had so much ahead of her. Even Roland the young man lying in front of her had his whole life ahead of him. What was going through his mind when he wanted to kill himself? Hopefully, the next several weeks she would find out the cause of his problems...

xxx

Kincaid groaned as he at last fully came to, the strong stench of disinfectant and disgusting hospital food lingering in the air. His eyes blinked slowly as he tried to take in his new surroundings. Several small electrodes were attached to his chest and a medical drip was attached to his left wrist by a thin needle. His head lulled forward as he shook the nauseating feeling in the pit of this stomach away, his brown eyes staring numbly at the bandages on both his wrists. It was all fucking true. His nightmare was real. In his heart he knew that Rochelle was dead and that he too would have been a victim of that bastard if the ambulance had came just a few minutes later. He may not have seen her being killed but he heard it, her screams, her cries of torture, of pain. He saw her body, both in the sleeping and waking world. Sniffling back a few silent tears he shook his head, determination gleaming in his eyes.

Hopefully in the next day or two he would be sent home and try and find of some way to stop his dreams, to get avenge on that fucker. That was the only thing on his mind. Revenge. "I'll get you, you bastard. Wait and see!"

His attention was soon caught as two people entered the room. The first was a female doctor in her early 50s, with a navy trouser suit underneath her long white doctor's coat. Her hair was combed back, cut short and was starting to grey a little. Behind her was a tall black man in his early 20s, dressed in light blue orderly clothing, with a friendly smile on his face and a small spring in his step. The female nodded at Kincaid as she approached him and smiled, "I'm glad to see you're awake. My name is Dr Sims and this is Max" she glanced at him, "He is one of the male nurses on the ward here at Westin Hills"

Kincaid frowned, "Westin Hills? What am I doing here? I thought I was in the general hospital in the centre of town"

"Well, under the circumstances it is best for you to remain here until we can find out why you tried to kill yourself. We need to properly assess your condition" she stated matter of factly.

"But I'm not crazy" he rebuked.

"I know that you're not. But there has to be a reason why you did what you did. With my help and the other doctors in Westin Hills we can find out that reason. There are other teenagers who might be going through the same troubles as you are. You can all help each other" she patted his shoulder lightly.

"Teenagers?" his head cocked to the side in curiosity, "Who are they?"

"You'll meet them soon. Now, I want to do a minor physical on you. Also I may need to take a blood sample, to see if you have taken any drugs or alcohol within the last twenty four to forty-eight hours. We tried to earlier, but you were in such a state that you were at times a little be hostile" she declared sternly.

He shrugged, "Yeah, well I don't like being fucked about by anyone. I tend to get a bit angry"

Dr Sims gave him a cold stare as she began lifted a small clipboard from the bottom of his bed, "Yes, well in Westin Hills there are certain rules and regulations you have to abide by or else you will be punished. I'll fill you in tomorrow of the rules. Now, if you would please co-operate and then when we are done with your medical examination we can let you get some sleep. I'm sure you are exhausted"

He shook his head quickly and forced a smile, "I'm fine" There was no fucking way he was going to sleep, not for a very long time. If only he could find some way of keeping himself awake.

It was nearly two hours later when Kincaid was finally allowed out into the main ward where he would be staying and receiving his therapy. Max had kept him company and he found himself to be relaxed in his company. He was easy to talk to, shared the same interests, liked the same sports as him. Max had reassured him that he could come to him at any time to talk, to vent out their problems, to even just to hang with. Even though it wasn't necessarily allowed to happen, patients and staff weren't allowed to mingle that much. But it seemed as though Max didn't give a fuck.

Max led the young teenager down the main patient wing of the ward, where he would be sharing a room with Philip Walker. It was fairly busy with nurses and a few doctors going to and fro, the faint music from a local radio station blurred out from one of the far rooms, while two young boys lingered outside one of bedrooms to his right. One of them had black hair and glassed and was confined in a wheelchair apparently trying to communicate with his friend who stood before him, his mouth opening and closing but alas on words were coming out. Kincaid quickly discerned that he was mute.

Kincaid studied the boy sitting in the wheel chair, recognising his face from school. Wasn't he in his science class? Fuck, he could have sworn about three or four months ago he was able to walk. How did he end up in the chair? Was he knocked down?

He felt a warm hand guide him towards the two boys and looked up at Max as he introduced them, "Guys, this is Kincaid. Roland Kincaid, he's new here" he began and then nodded at the boy in the chair, then the other respectively "This is Will Stanton and Joey Crusel"

Will smiled and pushed up his glasses further up the ridge of his nose, "Hi" he glanced at Joey who waved shyly, "Joey can't really speak, but he is a cool kind of guy"

Joey gave two thumbs up and gave a big broad grin.

Kincaid gave him a quick high five and looked at Max who gently coughed, getting his attention. "I'm just going to check if Philip is in your room it's the last one on the left. Come down when you're ready. I think your parents are going to come in the afternoon with some of your belongings. You can visit them in the family room"

Nodding silently, Kincaid turned towards Will and Joey, asking Will directly, "You're in my science class right?"

"Yeah, I am"

He then looked at Joey, "You're in Mrs Jacobs English class right?"

He gave a curt nod. Knicaid sighed quietly as he thought of his new room mate, Philip Walker? He knew him too. Could they all have the same 'problem' as him? He had a quick, look at Joey's wrists and they too were bandaged. Was he having bad dreams too? What about Will and Philip? Maybe he should ask...

"So, um, how did you two end up in here? If you don't mind me asking?"

Joey slowly showed his bandaged wrists, signifying his failed suicide attempt. While Will shrugged his shoulders, "They think they can help us. To sort out our problems. Not that it's going to stop the dreams..." his voice faltered off into an eerie whisper.

Kincaid caught the last few words and asked expectantly, "Dreams?"

Will urgently shook his head, "It's nothing. As you can see I jumped, I'm not wheel chair bound. I don't remember much, but from what my mom has told the doctors I was found on the back patio. The attic roof was opened. Supposedly I jumped from there. But as I say, it's all a bit blurry" He was more or less telling a lie, he was lured to his death or actually chased. That burnt guy with the knives for fingernails had finally got him, or well almost got him. Chased him like a mouse in his dream, while in the waking world he was actually sleep walking and fell off the attic roof. His parents though it was a failed suicide attempt. So, here he was in this fucking place! Unable to use his legs, probably for the rest of his life!

"Um" Kincaid muttered, breaking through Will's thoughts. "Who else is on the wing?"

"There is Jennifer, Philip, Stephen and Taryn" he replied.

"Taryn. As in Taryn White?" Kincaid mused out loud.

Will nodded eagerly, "Yeah, you know her?"

"Uh, no not really" he shrugged. If he was honest, then yes she did know him. Had a few run ins with her, just some verbal arguments in school and throughout town when they were hanging out with their own friends. She was a tough girl, knew how to stand up for herself. He knew that over the last several months she had been dabbling in drugs outside of school, through word of mouth from his friends. Inside deep down he was a little bit worried about her, but never showed it. He had a hidden crush on her, but had kept it quiet over the last year or so knowing that she probably wouldn't feel the same.

So, he knew the only thing was to focus his mind on his dreams, how to keep him and his sister awake. So, his thoughts about Taryn fell by the wayside, until now that is. Just how did she end up here? Did she too possibly try to kill herself? How was she coping with her time in here? Fuck, this was all screwed up. His head was all over the place. He needed to relax, try and come to terms with Rochelle's death. Hell, would they allow him out to attend her funeral? The fuckers had better allow him, she was his sister after all!

"Kincaid!"

He looked up as Max appeared from the last room on the left and ushered him forward, "Come on and I'll introduce you to Philip. You can get together with Will and Joey later. There is a common room where the kids meet up to watch TV, hang out and stuff"

Nodding quickly he muttered his goodbyes to Will and Joey, then began to walk down the corridor passing an opened doorway to his right, sensing a presence from inside. He gave a sideways look into the room, seeing her standing at the window smoking. Taryn White. His heart fluttered for a split second and he shoulders on, not noticing that she too had seen him. She had known that someone else was admitted to Westin Hills and now she knew who it was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_One week later..._

Taryn White heaved a quiet sigh of relief as Dr Sims closed her file. At fucking last, her one to one therapy session was over. It felt as though she was in this fucking room for an eternity. Swear to God, that sour faced old bitch Dr Sims thought she knew everything. When in fact she knew fuck all about her problems, about the nightmare that plagued her every time she unwittingly fell asleep. She gave a fake smile and exited the large spacious therapy room and half ran down the corridor towards her room. By fuck, she needed a smoke. Something to calm her nerves. Especially after falling asleep this morning and finding herself face to face with that burnt bastard Freddy. Thankfully, Jennifer came back and woke her up on time. She shook her head lightly shaking the image of her nightmare away and entered her room with whom she shared with Jennifer Caulfield who was 2 years younger than her at 14 years old. Marching over to her bed beside the window, Taryn crouched down on her knees and reached under her bed for her suitcase and unzipped one of the inner compartments and pulled out a small unopened packet of cigarettes and ripped it open, slipping one out between her fingers.

She shoved the packet back in the suitcase and then grabbed a small packet of matches from inside of her drawer and lit up the cancer stick, inhaling a long drag. It was a risk smoking in her room, seeing as the doctors prohibited smoking in the patient bedrooms as they were afraid that it would be a health and danger hazard towards them. So, each time she had a 'sneaky smoke' in her room she would stand by the window, pushing it opened as far as it could go -which was about two inches – and blow the unhealthy smoke outside. Hoping that no one would know that she was breaking one of the rules. That hopefully the smoke odour would be swept outside.

It didn't matter to her if she was breaking the rules or not, the main thing was that it helped her thinking about drugs. In some way it stopped her craving for GHB and heroin. Her dark dangerous addictions that she had been trying so hard over the last few weeks to get off with the help of her drug counsellor. The only reason she ever touched drugs was the feeling and rush of happiness, of elation and the feverish high it gave her. It mad her forget her heart ache, her problems she had in her own life and within her own family. Her mother made her feel unwanted, unloved. Like she was nothing in her life, as though she didn't exist. Like she was no one.

It all started when her mother began to drink heavily when she was about 9 or 10, then the drugs began to play a part in her mother's life. Her father couldn't handle the destruction his wife was causing to the family and left the home when she was 11. Her mother only cared for the drugs, the cocaine and excitement that came with it. Thankfully, the social services had stepped in after a few of the neighbours took it upon their own decision to get help for their neighbour. Through a self help drug programme her mother kicked her drug and alcohol habit a few weeks before Taryn's 13th birthday.

But as he kicked her habit, another one came along. Men. Nearly every weekend her mother had a new boyfriend or well, a man came by for the night or two. Basically her mother was a slut. It hurt her to say this and people may call her callous, but it was true. Her mother wanted attention, but paid her no attention at all. It was during this period of time that she too began to go down a dark path of drug taking when she was 13 and a half. She hung about with the wrong people, all of them in their late teens. She also turned to stealing money from her mother and stealing items of value from clothing stores to feed her habit.

When her dreams started she just thought it was the side effects to the drugs, but it was something more and it only took her a few weeks after her nightmares began when she realised it.

Taryn had a few reasons to be pleased that she was admitted to Westin Hills. Firstly there was the assumption that someone would find a way to stop the dreams, but alas nothing had came to fruition. Hope however, still remained in her heart, But the main reason was she was finally getting herself off the drugs and she was away from her mother who hadn't visited her once since she was sent here. So much for motherly love, huh?

When the process of coming off the drugs started, Taryn never knew how hard it would be on her. The constant shaking, the sweats, dizziness and sickness that came with the withdrawal symptoms. On a few occasions she so desperately wanted to run away from the hospital, to get in contact with her dealer in that dark grimy alleyway on the east side of town. To get her fix. But Dr Gordon and her drug therapist would always reassure her that she was doing well. That she would beat it her cravings and live her live free of drugs, she would be healthy and could have a future if she only gave herself a chance.

However, that smarmy bastard Lorenzo wasn't helping matters. He would always give her knowing glances in her direction and would whisper to her when she was passing by, hinting that he would get her some 'gear'. She knew that he was serious as from talking to Max about him, he was a drug user as well. But he kept it hidden well. However, she couldn't' really tell anyone that he was trying to persuade her to go back onto the drugs, it was her word against his? The other doctors and staff would probably believe that she was lying. So, every time Lorenzo got his chance to talk to her on his own he would try and entice her to go back onto the drugs. However, Taryn never wanted to go back to that dark place, she wanted to be clean for good. If only Lorenzo would fuck off to another ward or another hospital. He was nothing but a lazy incompetent fucker.

She took a few more quick drags of her cigarette, trying to calm herself down. If only she had some Valium, but she was only allowed some if it was under the supervision of Dr Gordon The main times she would take Valium was when she had her panic attacks. Which to her delight were becoming less frequent.

Slowly she found her mind wandering towards Kincaid. It was nearly over a week since he was admitted to Westin Hills and she hardly had a chance to talk to him. Maybe it was because she was afraid to talk to him. He could easily tell her to fuck off. Then again she would probably be nasty back to him. Anytime anyone was rude or vindictive towards her she would give the same treatment back. If no one was going to give her respect she wasn't going to give them respect. Simple as that.

Then what if he was shy? Rolling her eyes she gave a little chuckle, there was no way that Kincaid was shy or nervous to talk to anyone. He was loud, brash, said what he wanted and when he wanted. He was extremely blunt when he was talking to you, straight to the point. She had seen him in a few fights in school. He knew how to look after himself.

That was one of the main things she liked about him. His 'take no bullshit' attitude. It was an attitude that she shared with him. Probably the only thing they had in common. It wasn't as though he gave a shit about her. Then why did she continue to have an interest him? On several occasions during the week she would always try and catch his eye. The odd time she would, but the moment they do she would always put up this defensive attitude and give him a dirty look. A spiteful glare. Like 'what are you looking at?' kind of look. It was though deep down she was afraid of letting him close to her or anyone for that matter. Like seriously, who would like her? She was an ex-junkie!

Taryn stiffened, feeling a pair of eyes watching her and spun around to face Lorenzo as he stood in the doorway with a sly grin on his face. "You're not meant to be smoking in your room, Taryn. It's one of the rules. Or have you forgot?"

She defiantly took another drag of her cigarette and sneered back, "And so what? I'll do what I want"

He chuckled lightly and saw that her hands were shaking. "You still got the shakes? Want me to help you get rid of them?"

Stubbing her cigarette out on the windowsill she discarded the butt out of the window, then glowered at him with disdain. "Fuck off Lorenzo"

"C'mon. Just say the words" he walked towards her, cornering her against the wall.

She shook her head, "Leave me alone"

"Aw" he mocked and slid his hand into his back trouser pocket, pulling out a small plastic tube filled with a clear liquid that she knew all too well. GBH. One of the drugs she was trying so hard to keep away from. It nearly ruined her life. She didn't want to go near that shit ever again. But here this fucker was yet again trying to tempt her, when he was meant to be looking after her. He clucked his tongue, "C'mon Taryn, just one last hit!"

Her hands slowly clenched at her side, with her finger nails digging into her palms harshly and she strongly shook her head again, half screaming at him. "I said no!"

"Hey! What the fuck is going on?" came a concerned voice from the doorway.

Taryn sighed in relief and looked over Lorenzo's shoulder at the owner of the voice. Roland Kincaid. Taking a deep breath she calmly crossed her arms and took a few short steps to her left away from the leering face of Lorenzo and declared. "Nothing. Lorenzo was just leaving"

The male intern discretely shoved the small capsule of drugs into his front pocket and turned around to them both, "I was just checking if she was okay. I found her smoking. Broke one of the rules...again" he gave her a cold piercing look, "That was your last warning Taryn"

"It won't happen again" she shot back, both of them knowing that it meant something more than her breaking the rules over a stupid cigarette.

He chuckled to himself and slowly left the room, muttering quietly as he left. "Bunch of fucking crazies"

Kincaid swiftly flicked him the bird as he left the room and mumbled to himself, "Fucking asshole" before turning towards Taryn who stood shivering in the corner. Her head was bowed trying to keep her tears at bay. He frowned in confusion and walked towards her, ready to reach out and comfort her. Maybe this was his chance!

He suddenly stopped as she jerked out of his grasp, "Don't touch me, okay? I know you're trying to help, but I don't need it!" she couldn't believe what she was saying. No, no! Her mind went blank as she tried to figure out a way to apologise for her snappy attitude. She wanted to actually talk to him, be nice for once. To be civil. But here she was shouting at him! Why couldn't she just open up? Why couldn't she just let someone get close to her and care for her? Fuck, her mind was even more screwed up that she thought.

Kincaid glowered at her, why bother? What was the point in trying to be friendly when all she did was throwing it back in his face? "Fine, fuck it! I always knew you were stuck up! But girl, you're a more stubborn bitch that I thought!"

Taryn opened her mouth to try and speak but Kincaid had stormed out of the room, leaving her downtrodden. She had blown it! This was probably her only chance of talking to him one to one! Gah! She was an imbecile

Sighing despondently she slumped down on her bed and buried her head in her pillow. Why the fuck did Lorenzo have to come into her room? If he wasn't there then maybe she would have had the courage to talk to Kincaid. Perhaps she should report Lorenzo for constantly pestering her. But then again the devious bastard would only twist it around to make it out that she was the one constantly annoying him, asking for drugs.

Crying out in frustration into her pillow, she silently prayed and hoped that god would give her another chance to talk to Kincaid. Just to see if she could apologise...

**xxx**

Kincaid charged into his room like a raging bull. There was one thing he hated and that was being insulted. But to be insulted by a girl? Fuck, that was fucking low! How fucking dare she do that to him? After he tried to be nice to her? She just threw it back in his face like it was worthless, like HE was worthless! Screw her, he didn't need her or any of her bullshit!

His room mate Philip looked up from his table, pushing aside the plasticine puppets he was making and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, top of the fucking world!" Kincaid snarled sarcastically.

"Fuck man, I was just asking!" Philip rebuked in defence.

Glancing over to his room mate, Kincaid gave an apologetic shrug of his shoulders, "Sorry man. It's just I tried to talked to Taryn there and well, she was really nasty to me. Like I was nothing to her. It's made me so fucking angry!"

"Oh" he nodded thoughtfully. He knew from his late night talks with Kincaid that he had a _**'thing'**_ for Taryn. Despite not admitting it to him, Philip knew from the little gleam in his eyes or the slight smile on his face whenever he talked about her that he did genuinely like her. Any time he would ask him did he fancy her, Kincaid would say no. But it was a blatant lie. "Listen, you should just tell her that you like her. Get it off of your chest"

"No, she wouldn't' give a shit what I say. And anyway I _don't_ like her. I don't know where you got that idea from" Kincaid stated simply and sat on his single bed, "The only thing I want is to find a way to stop these fucking dreams. To stop that bastard that is hunting us. All of us!"

Philip nodded nervously, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Look, if you to talk about Taryn just say. I'll listen, anything to keep my mind off other things"

"Whatever" he rolled his eyes and slid his hand underneath his mattress, to pull out a bundle of sports magazines and started to flick through the pages. He was going to try and forget about this afternoon's events, to forget about her. To try and push these feelings to the side. But that was easier said than done.

Xxx

"I'm such a stupid bitch!" Taryn cried. She had just finished telling Jennifer Caulfield what had just occurred over an hour earlier with Kincaid, "He probably thinks I'm a right asshole! Well, I wouldn't blame him if he never talked to me ever again!"

Sitting beside her Jennifer gently rubbed her shoulders, comforting her. "It's okay. I'm sure he knows that you didn't mean it"

"Oh, he knew. He more or less told me to fuck off!" she sobbed, "It's just I'm so afraid..."

"Of letting someone close to you? To show your true feelings?" Jennifer finished for her.

"Yeah. I mean, my mom had been a bitch for as long as I can remember. When I was younger she would put the drink and drugs before me and my dad. I felt as though I couldn't' talk to her. Well, how could I? She was always drunk or high. My dad was too busy working, then he left. He couldn't take any more. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more myself, my mom got clean. But then she turned to men for her new addiction. She's nothing but a slut! I just think that people will just let me down, hurt me if I let them get close to me"

"I thought you were meant to be talking about this with Dr Gordon. About your family?"

"I changed my mind"

"You should re-think this again Taryn" Jennifer suggested, "It will help you in the long run"

Taryn was about to reply when she noticed the burn marks on Jennifer's left arm. Cigarette burns. Looking at her friend she sighed, "You've been burning yourself again? Why?"

"You know why!" Jennifer sniffled, "It's the only way I can keep myself awake. The nightmares are getting worse!"

"I know. But we're all in this together. We just have to be strong and we'll get through this. I'm sure we'll find something or maybe someone to help us" Taryn reassured. Well, she needed to try and reassure herself too. There had to be some hope, some chance of survival for them all. If only she could get one last chance to tell Kincaid how she felt, as she knew that soon Freddy would finally kill her.

To finish her off...

**XXXX**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

More then 3 days since Taryn and Kincaid's outburst at each other. During those days Taryn had tried her best to stay clear of him, feeling rather embarrassed at her outburst. While Kincaid felt angry that he let himself even try and be nice to her, to offer some kindness towards her. He felt there was no hope for them. Actually, both of them believed this. They were at a brick wall, a dead end.

Taryn had a horrible night. All down to that burnt freak! She had fallen asleep, while trying to keep an eye out for Jennifer as she slept. Yet again that monster was there. But instead of trying to hurt her, he toyed with her mind. Chasing her about the boiler room, playing a twisted game of hide and seek. Using those creepy ghost like children as pawns, as they warned her, staring at her with those soulless eyes. Then they would scraper off into the darkened corridors, before Taryn would later find them. Their small little bodies, burned and mutilated beyond recognition. To Taryn's surprise and relief, Freddy didn't even try to hurt her. Perhaps he had someone else in mind.

And she was _right._

It was around about 9am when she heard rumours from two of the male interns that a new patient was being admitted to the hospital. She couldn't hear properly as she was ushered into the cafeteria for her breakfast, but the last few sentences she heard was that it was supposedly a failed suicide attempt. She was shocked when she heard who it was. Kristen Parker. Everyone in school knew her, she was the gorgeous blond haired, blue eyed beauty of Springwood Junior High. With her perfect face, petite figure and with cash on the hip. Her family were quite well off. The guys were always trying to vie for her attention. To be honest with herself, Taryn felt jealous of Kristen. What if Kincaid grew fond of the girl? Who wouldn't fancy someone like Kristen?

But Taryn knew she had to put her insecurities to the side, Kristen was another victim. Another one of his prey. Freddy's prey. Just like the rest of them. Taryn would have to push her envy to the side and be nice to her. All of them were in danger. They had to stick together.

First things were first, she had to muster up some courage to talk to Kincaid. Whenever he got out of the quiet room, that was. Even just for a few minutes and let him know what she didn't mean to be cheeky and aggressive with him the other day. But she barely seen him over the last few days. She would always be too late into the cafeteria at breakfast, lunch and dinner time. Missing him by a few minutes. She had pondered on going to his room, but was afraid that he would just slam the door on her. It was strange how over the last few days they hadn't had any group therapy sessions, just individual one to one sessions with either Dr Gordon or Dr Sims. That was another reason why she wasn't able to bump into him. He was probably avoiding her too.

She believed the real reason they were having one to one sessions, was that the doctors didn't want them to be hysterical in front of each other as they tried to come to terms with what had happened to Stephen. It had been nearly four nights since he cut his eyelids off with that scalpel, then transferred to County General. But as far as she was aware there was no further word about him. She knew deep down that he had died. That fucker wouldn't let anyone away so easily.

At least there was one small positive piece of news that had came about over the last two days. A member of the staff was to start today. A new doctor who had supposedly graduated a few months ago, specialising in psychology and dream therapy. It was nice in a way to get a new perspective, someone nearer their own age that. That would at least listen to them. Of course Dr Gordon was good, caring and had time for each of them. But as for Dr Sims, well that old cow just talked bull shit! Her ideas were old and outdated. No one liked her. Maybe they would like this new doctor. Whoever they were.

Pacing wearily back and forth, Taryn's head hung low her hair hanging over her face. She was several feet down from the quiet room, where Kincaid currently occupied having been heavily sedated a several hours before.

She heard him cussing and screaming half an hour after she woke from her nightmare. Lorenzo and another male orderly tried to usher him back to bed, but he was so angry and afraid he lashed out. Hitting Lorenzo squarely in the jaw, well that is what Philip told Jennifer and she in turn told her. When she heard this it made her smile inside. About time that fucker got his just deserves. If only he would get moved to another ward or hospital, permanently.

However, when she heard that Kinciad was sedated, she grew more anxious. Seeing as she was freaked out from her nightmare earlier. She was so zoned out over the last few hours that she would avoid any contact with people, the nurses, the staff, even Jennifer. There was one destination in her mind, that was the quiet room and so here she was just several feet from it. Lazily walking back and forth, biting her nails nervously. Anyone who tried to talk to her, well she basically ignored them. Too zoned out. Silently, inside she hoped that Kincaid would wake from his induced sleep safely and unharmed.

Footsteps approached from her left, making her glance up as Dr Gordon walked down the corridor with a small clip board under his arm. He seemed on edge, but still held a professional look in his eyes. He stopped by her, concerned as he gently place a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Hi Taryn, you don't look too hot kid? Are you getting much sleep?"

She twisted away on her heel, lowering her face and giving him no response. He sighed and walked away, muttering. "I don't think so"

Taryn felt and looked like shit, if he saw the bags under her eyes he would probably say this to DR Sims who would no doubt demand her to take sleeping tablets. That was the last thing she needed. From behind she could faintly hear Jennifer talking to him, possibly asking him about her cigarette privileges and when she would be getting them back. But again Dr Gordon was having none of it, seeing as on several occasions Jennifer would use the cigarettes to keep herself awake at night by burning her skin. Her lower arms was covered in several burn marks.

Looking over her shoulder she saw the young teenager marching up to her, a sombre look on her face. "I can't believe this" she moaned, "He said no again. This is the third day in a row that I've asked for my cigarettes back and he just refused. I'm craving a cigarette!"

"What do you expect?" Taryn mumbled, "You keep hurting yourself to stay awake. I know that you're scared of the nightmares, I am too. But there are other ways to keep yourself awake!"

"Well, to me there isn't" she mumbled softly.

"Here" Taryn sighed and pulled on Jennifer's hand, "C'mon I have a few cigarette's left. You can have one now, if you want? Just as long as we don't get caught. I know that old bag Dr Sims has ordered Max and the other nurses to check our rooms more thoroughly and at regular intervals. I don't want my ass chewed again!"

"Don't worry" Jennifer nodded.

Once inside their room, the girls closed the door and Taryn rummaged through her belongings in her suitcase until she found the last packet of cigarettes with about 4 cigarettes left. She handed one over to Jennifer and took one herself, before lighting it up then gave the lighter to her. "Listen, I've made a decision. I'm going to tell Kincaid how I feel. Well, that is if he will listen to me"

Jennifer's mood brightened at this" That's good. I'm glad"

"I need out of this place" Taryn muttered sadly, as she pushed opened the window. As far as it would go well only a few inches. "Just for a few hours to the gardens. Didn't Dr Gordon take you and Philip out a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah, he did. You should have came out. I think Will was out too. Max was wheeling him around the gardens for half an hour"

"I couldn't" Taryn sighed frustratedly, "I was in the quiet room that day. After my bust up with Kerry. Remember she died a few days later..."

"Oh, yeah when he got her. Freddy" she whispered quietly, then changed the subject, "Maybe you could ask Dr Gordon could you go out into the gardens for an hour or two. I could go with you? Maybe we could all go out one morning, perhaps then you'll have the opportunity to talk to him" Jennifer chirped.

Taryn gave a small bitter laugh, "Huh, it'll take more than a nice sunny walk in the gardens to get Kincaid to listen or even talk to me. Anyway, I would rather talk to him in private. I don't want anyone listening in on our conversation!"

She instantly noticed the hurt look on Jennifer's face and rebuked, "I never meant you. I mean, the guys...Will, Philip or Joey!"

"I'm sure they won't gossip"

"Believe me, guys can be worse when it comes to gossip than girls! I've witnessed it in school. You'll learn that people can be vindictive and nasty. Pretending to be nice and friendly, listening to your problems and acting like they care. Then the next minute they turn on you, telling your secrets to everyone. Spreading lies!" Taryn warned grimly.

Jennifer quickly defended herself, "I wouldn't do that"

"I know" Taryn rolled her eyes, "Listen, I'm going to spend the rest of the day by myself. I'm not really in the mood to be around people. I'm rather grouchy after the lack of sleep from last night"

"Okay, I'm going to see if Joey for a while. See you at lunch, yeah?"

"Maybe" she shrugged and took one last puff of her cancer stick. Before stubbing it out on the side of the windowsill and crunching it up in a small tissue from her jogging bottoms, then discarded it in the bin as she left the room. She wanted to talk to Max, she knew that he would understand her dilemma better than Jennifer. He was older, with more sense and perhaps a little wiser than most people his age. She looked up to him as an older brother. He always seemed to have time to talk to them, each and every one of them. He would help them relax, cracking some jokes and making them at ease. Making them forget their nightmares, their problems even if for a little while.

Taryn however never told him any details of her nightmares, afraid that he would think she was crazy. To her relief he never put any pressure on her about her dreams. He would repeatedly say to her if she wanted to talk to him about her dreams, then she could come to him at any time. It didn't matter if he was on duty or on a break.

Walking quickly she ventured down the corridor towards the nurse's station, thankfully seeing him as he chatted to Annie one of the nurses manning the desk. Clearing her throat shyly, she called. "Max? Can I talk to you?"

He swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and gave a smile, "Hey, no problem. Go ahead"

She looked at Annie and then back at him, "Um, in private? That okay?"

"Yeah" he nodded and threw the rest of his sandwich in the trash can at the side of the desk. "I'll see you later Annie"

They both set off down towards the patient's wing, heading to where the TV room was situated. "I think this should be empty. We'll have some privacy there" Max commented.

The room was quite large, with a small couch facing a TV suspended to the wall. A small pool table was behind the couch, while in the corner was a small table with a few newspapers and magazines scattered about. Smoke lingered in the air, while the temperature was really warm. Stuffy. It appeared the air conditioning had broke again. Max took a mental note of this to be looked at. He sat beside Taryn after leaving the door slightly ajar, to allow some air into the clammy room. "So, what do you want to talk about? Is it to do with your dreams?"

"No" her head shook lightly, "Nothing to do with that. It's something else or well...someone else"

"Someone?" he rose an eyebrow, egging her on. "Yes?"

"Kincaid..."

He cut in sharply, "Has he been giving you grief cause of your drug use? Want me to have a word with him?"

"No! No, it's nothing to do with that" she protested, "It's just that I..._like _him"

"Like him as in have feelings for him?" he gave a soft please smile, not seeing this side to her.

"Yes" she blushed, looking away briefly, "I know that we may not get on. We argue like mad! Call each other names and everything. But I'm just so defensive, afraid to let anyone come close to me. To let anyone care for me. I guess it's because of what my family life was like. Or well is like. Mom doesn't give a fuck about me, too busy worrying how to please her next boyfriend that she has. My dad, well god knows where is he!"

Max leaned back in the couch and rubbed his chin musingly, "You're just afraid aren't you? To open up?"

"Yep" she nodded quickly, "I'm sure you heard about the argument we had. Me and Kincaid"

He agreed, "Yeah. I heard him talking to Philip the other day. Something about how he stopped Lorenzo from annoying you? What was that asshole saying to you this time?"

"Nothing. I want to forget about that" she shrugged casually. It was the last thing on her mind at the minute. "You see, instead of thanking Kincaid for helping me out. I acted nasty toward him, more or less told him to fuck off. Afterwards I felt so guilty, so fucking stupid! I feel as though I've ruined my chance with him"

"Maybe you haven't. Don't be hard on yourself. I'm sure if you sat him down and calmly talked to him. Explain to him how terrified you are of showing your true feelings. That you have this fear of getting hurt again and that is why you become so defensive and aggressive towards him or well anyone for that matter" Max reassured and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

She gave a half hearted grin and reached for the mote control, "I'll try"

"Good. I've to get back here. Don't want Dr Sims reprimanding me! You take care and get some sleep tonight" he rose to his feet and left the room. Once outside he saw Kincaid as he briskly walked down the corridor. Max smiled knowingly, it appeared the teenager was eavesdropping on him and Taryn. Maybe that was a good sign, if he knew that Taryn genuinely liked him, he may be more attentive and actually listen to her...


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: **At last, I thought I wouldd never get this done. There may be two or three chapters left. Then I'll probably go back to updating either The Kruegers or The Evil Within: Krueger Legacy. Not sure yet. Well, anyway please review.

P.S: Am I the only one who is getting extremely disheartened by the return of romance stories in this genre? It's like the return of the Mary Sues! Please no more, I beg you. Freddy does not love and would not care about anyone. Simple. As. That.

Well, thanks for the reviews on this story.

**Chapter 4**

Kincaid stormed into his room that he shared with Philip, it was nearly half an hour after he had overheard Taryn speaking to Max. To anyone it would appear that he was in a foul mood, but the fact of the matter was he was in shock. Stunned to say the least.

Philip glanced over from his chair at a small table, as he moulded another one of his plasticine puppets. He heard Kincaid muttering to himself and was about to speak, but kept quiet. Quickly becoming engrossed in his work yet again.

Kincaid sprawled himself on his bed and grabbed one of his sports magazines, flicking through it with little interest. Had he really heard that? Was his ears playing tricks on him? Did Taryn actually say that and did she mean it? Did she really like him? Maybe it was wrong of him to eavesdrop on her and Max's conversation. But now, he was kind of glad that he did. Maybe now after finding out how she really felt, that he could put down his own barriers and be more open with her. As by the way things were going, they may not have much time left. The nightmares were becoming more harrowing, more threatening. That bastard was stepping up his games. The new girl Kristen Parker was the most recent person to be admitted into the hospital.

Also, if he hadn't had woken himself up by slamming his arm on that scalding hot pipe, he would have been a goner. But oh no, them fuckers wanted him to go back to sleep. After refusing several times, Lorenzo forcefully tired to push him back into the room. Instigating him to lash out, smacking him across the jaw. It was a mistake in hindsight, as the result of it was several long sedated hours in the quiet room. But at the time, it was a good idea.

It was fifteen minutes after being let out of the quiet room that he heard Max and Taryn chatting quietly in the TV room. His heart had froze in his chest as he heard his name being mentioned. But instead of her insulting him or calling him names, she was actually telling Max that she had feelings for him. For him, Roland Kincaid. It was still hard for him to believe.

He knew that now more so than ever he had to restrain from making any nasty outbursts if Taryn was nasty to him. She was like him in a certain way, not through her family life. But her personality, afraid of showing her true feelings. Just like he was. His family life wasn't that bad as hers, but he was teased during his early teen years for his weight. Because of that over the last year or two he began working out, building up his muscles and body strength. Due to the bullying he became rather aggressive and developed a brash attitude towards people, isolating himself from his friends. That was a problem that he had hoped to rectify.

Unluckily for him, he was called into Dr Sims office just before he came to his room. There he was bluntly told by Dr Sims that he would have to remain in his room for the remainder of the day. Well, unless he had a therapy session or to go out his meals. But because of his 'aggressive outburst' the TV room and the hospital gardens was out of bounds until tomorrow. Not that he cared anyway, his thoughts were elsewhere.

For the remainder of the day, he lounged in his room reading his magazines and generally was bored as fuck. The new member of staff, Dr Nancy Thompson had came in to say hello accompanied by Max. She was young looking, perhaps in her early twenties. She seemed nice enough, but he had to get to know her better before he could fully trust her.

After his dinner Kincaid was informed by Dr Sims that they would all have a group therapy session in the morning. It would also include a 'getting to know you' session with the new Doctor and the new patient Kristen. It appeared from what he had been told by Philip that Dr Thompson had managed to calm down Kristen after she was admitted to the ward. It was surprising as when any new patients were admitted to Westin Hills they were too hysterical and had to be sedated straight away. Maybe this new woman Nancy Thompson would be able to help them. He was hoping that she would be able to. If not, then it was only a matter of time before each of them would die. One by one.

**x x x**

Again Kinciad had fucked it up. It was just a few minutes after the group therapy session that included the new patient Kristen and new member of staff Dr Thompson. And as always Kincaid had shot himself in the foot by admonishing Taryn for her use of drugs, something that he hated. She didn't rebuke, only gestured with her hands towards him. But at the end of the session she had appeared to forgot all about it seeing as he was cracking jokes, bringing a bit of his unique humour to the group. A little habit he had got himself into during the sessions. Anything to relieve any tension, even if Dr Sims didn't approve of it.

Once the session was over Kincaid more or less chased after Taryn as she ventured down towards her room. He gently pulled her to the side, noticing the stern look on her face, "Taryn..." he began.

She scowled at him, then waited for him to continue. However, he remained silent, feeling rather nervous and ashamed. "What is it?" she demanded.

"I didn't mean what I said in there" he shrugged his shoulders. "About you know..."

"My drug use, you mean?" she raised an eyebrow, glowering at him with simmering anger.

"Yes. You see I've always hated drugs..."

Taryn cut in abruptly, "And you think I liked it? That I enjoyed taking the drugs? That I would want to go back to that dark place?"

He shook his head quickly, "No, I never meant that! I shouldn't have said anything"

"Then why did you? I mean, I don't judge you or pick on you for anything that you've done in your life"

"I know" he sighed despondently, "I am sorry. I just want us to try again"

She gave him a sceptical look, yet again putting up her defences. Just why did she keep doing this? "Um, why?"

He took a quick glance around the corridor and then moved a little closer to her, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know Taryn, about what you said"

She gave him a puzzled look. What was he talking about?

Just when he was about to continue, to fully explain himself Philip called down from the TV room, "Yo! Kincaid, come on! That football match is about to start!"

Rolling his eyes in disbelief Kincaid mumbled, "We'll talk later, okay?" he gave her an apologetic shrug and turned on his heel, towards the TV room with a glum disheartened look on his countenance.

Once inside, he berated his room mate, "You timed that perfectly! I was just about to tell Taryn that I had overheard her talking to Max!"

Philip twisted around from his seat on the couch, an apologetic look crossing his face. "Shit! I didn't know, go on after her then!"

Kincaid shook his head in discord, "No, she's probably away now. I'll try and talk to her later. Well, whenever I get the next chance to" he slowly slumped onto the couch beside Philip as he switched over to the football game. Maybe this would keep his mind off of things. However, somehow doubted it as he knew he would be thinking of her...

**x x x **

It was now just past 12.30am. The ward was eerily quiet. Taryn sat awake in her room, keeping a vigilant eye on Jennifer as she slept in her bed. They had decided to take turns sleeping, while the other would keep a watchful eye out for the one who was sleeping. Jennifer was sleeping first from 9.30 to 2am and then Taryn would swap over until 6.30am. That was if she never fell asleep before 2am. Having no change to get some coffee or coca cola from the vending machine was a major hindrance to her efforts of staying awake. But for some peculiar reason she had managed to stay awake so far and with a little luck until 2am.

She lay in her own bed in an upright position and idly flicked through the evening Springwood Gazette having finished the crossword puzzle near the back of the paper. Beforehand she had listened to the local radio station KRGR on a small radio that Max has loaned to her. The radio station nearly put her to sleep with the numerous golden oldie songs from years gone by, it appeared to be music played from the 60s that was on late at night. Not that she listened to this station anyway, she would usually listen to her LPS when she was at home that was.

She pushed herself up further on her bed, feeling herself getting slightly sleepy. To her right she heard Jennifer mumble to herself and turn in her sleep. Taryn suddenly stiffened, becoming alert and twisted around towards her room mate. After a few seconds Jennifer settled back into a soundless sleep. Making Taryn sigh in relief, maybe tonight would go in smoothly after all.

How _wrong _she was.

There was a several short metal bangs against the wall outside her room, making her shriek in fright and jerk to her feet. Jennifer also shot up in her bed, awakening from her slumber. Her wide eyes darted towards the door and she soon followed Taryn as she advanced towards the door, flinging it open briskly.

She stepped out into the corridor, her gaze averting towards Joey as he slammed a metal tray against the wall outside Kincaid's room before darting into his own room that he shared with Will.

She followed Kristen into the room followed by Jennifer and Kincaid. There was screams of terror coming from the window, where Will sat his fingers gripping the steel metal as his panic stricken face glared up at the tower across the courtyard. "Philip! No!"

Scrambling forward towards the window, Taryn screamed at what she saw. Philip stood perched on the edge of the abandoned tower. Littering on the edge, as though he was ready to jump. His arms were stretched out before him, being yanked and tugged by some invisible force. "Philip! No, wake up!" she roared.

Kristen and Jennifer also shrieked in despair, willing him to somehow to wake up.

Then in what seemed like slow motion to Taryn, she saw Philip plunge off the edge down nearly 30 feet into the concrete courtyard below with a sickening crunch. The girls shrieked loudly, while Taryn spun around tears streaming down her face as she burrowed her head into none other than the chest of Kincaid.

He gently placed his right hand on her shoulder, comforting her as he stared distressingly ahead. It was his own fucking fault! He saw Philip sleepwalk out of the room, he didn't even stop him! He let him sleepwalk to his death, to his murder!

But how the fuck could he have walked out of the ward? It was meant to be locked at night! He snapped out of his daze as he heard the frantic voices of Annie and another two male interns as they ran into the room. For the next fifteen minutes it was a daze for all of them as they were led to the canteen. Nurse Annie had contacted Dr Carver and Dr Sims straight away after escorting Taryn and the others to the canteen. It was here they would stay until they would be allowed back to their rooms. The main reason was to check each of their rooms for any items that they may use to harm themselves or perhaps worse.

It was 2am and the last of the Elm Street children still hadn't been ordered back to their rooms. They were informed by one of the male nurses that they would have a group therapy session about the night's events. Kincaid sighed sombrely as he sat across from Taryn at the far table. The others were sat at the next table across from them both. He wanted some quiet space for them both. "I should have stopped him" he whispered.

"What?" she lifted her gaze from the wooden table towards him.

"I woke up, I saw him sleepwalking. I just told him to wake up. I didn't even try and stop him properly" he gritted his teeth in anger. At himself, no one else. "I just said, 'Have a nice stroll, ass-hole!' I mean what the fuck? I was meant to be his friend! But I let him leave the room, I let him sleep walk to his death, into the hands of that fucker"

Taryn rose from her seat and scurried around to his side, sitting beside him. "Don't blame yourself! You weren't to know that he was going to sleep walk to the tower. That he was going to jump! That this Freddy guy was going to get him! Don't feel guilty for his death!"

He scoffed, "Well, that is what he wants isn't it? He wants us dead. When we sleep, he comes for us, to kill us! That's what he did to Philip and I never stopped it!"

"Don't do this to yourself" she hushed and surprising them both grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently and reassuringly. "If he hadn't of killed Philip this time, he would have killed him another time. He isn't going to stop. You know it, I know it. Hell, everyone of us here knows it!"

Kincaid nodded slowly, she was absolutely right. He lowered his eyes as she untangled her hand from this and set it on her lap, making him frown slightly in disappointment. Fuck this, he was telling her now. They probably didn't have much time left. Who knew who would be next? "Uh, Taryn. I know what you said..." his mouth was dry, a trait he had when he was nervous. "I heard you talking to Max"

Taryn's lips quivered in shock, at a lost for words. As she managed to compose herself, her chance to speak was quickly taken away from her, yet again. This time by Dr Sims as she marched into the canteen, her face grim. "Come one, back to your rooms. Our group session will start at 9am sharp. Get as much sleep as you can"

The group gave each other a '_was she fucking kidding?'_ look. There was no way any of them was sleeping tonight or ever again. Things were getting more dangerous, sleep was no longer an option.

Taryn stood with Kincaid and they walked side by side out of the canteen towards the ward. They would continue with their talk later. At long last they were on talking terms...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

The morning therapy session was a disaster. So much for Dr Sims trying to understand, to try and help them all, Taryn thought bitterly. She stood just outsides the quiet room where Kincaid was situated in his sedated induced sleep. All because of that bitch Dr Sims. Taryn was meant to be in her room, but had pretended to one of the nurses that she had to used the toilet. Well, that was about ten minutes ago. All she wanted to do was to check on Kincaid. If Dr Sims found out that she was out of her room, she would be reprimanded.

She didn't blame Kincaid for the way he reacted to Dr Sims plans for them to be locked away in their rooms each night and under sedation. They were being treated like criminals, like they were the ones in the wrong. They – Dr Sims and Dr Gordon – didn't believe them when they tried to put across what had happened. They only believed that Philip had killed himself, thrown himself from the top of the tower. But each of them knew otherwise. They knew the truth.

Dr Thompson from what Taryn could discern seemed to be leaning towards their point of view, she seemed to believe them for whatever reason that may be. She never said so much in words, but when Kristen had mentioned that this 'guy' was trying to turn us against each other so that each of us would be weak, easy prey. Dr Thompson agreed wholeheartedly. Like she knew more than she was letting on. If that was the case, then why was she not telling them what she knew?

Taryn sighed and looked up from the grey tiled floor, peeking into the quiet room once more seeing Kincaid slumped in the corner of the room, his head lulled to the side. He was fast asleep. Hopefully, he would wake up unharmed or actually he would just wake up. Not die in his sleep. She was terrified herself of being sedated tonight. Dr Sims was condemning them all to their deaths and she hadn't a fucking clue!

To her right she heard someone clear their throat and slowly she turned to face Nancy, "Um, I'm just checking on Kincaid. I'm heading to my room, sorry"

"I'm not going to shout at you" Nancy smiled softly, "I'm just going round to let you all know that we...I mean, Dr Gordon and myself will be administering a new drug to you. It's called hypnocil. It's a dream suppressant. It stops you from dreaming"

"No dreams? No nightmares of that...fucker?" she asked with optimism.

"No. None at all" she shook her head lightly, "I'll let you all know when the shipment arrives. It should hopefully be tomorrow sometime" reaching out to the young girl, Nancy rubbed her shoulders soothingly. "Listen, he'll be fine. From what I can tell about Kincaid, is that he is a fighter. He's strong. He'll wake up soon"

"Thanks" Taryn smiled appreciatively, giving a small wave goodbye as she ventured down towards her room. There was a small inkling that he would wake up, but would he be injured? What kind of mental state would he be in? Would that bastard Freddy try and play on this guilt? She knew that there was no doubt about it, that Freddy would. He enjoyed to inflict mental torment on them. Something that she knew only too well from her own nightmares.

**x x x**

Kincaid sat slouched against the far corner of the padded quiet room, submerged in darkness. For as long as he could tell, he had been sitting in this position since succumbing to his drug induced sleep. Perhaps tonight his dreams would be peaceful. But as soon as these musings had gone, the door to the padded room creaked open. Allowing a thin ray of light to beam through the gap in the doorway. Kincaid gulped worryingly and rose to his feet, his eyes flickering about the room waiting for any sign of Freddy lunging at him.

The door continued to screech open, albeit a little slowly. Shedding more light through the gap, destroying the darkness that had consumed the room a few seconds before. Prudently he inched forward and shielded his eyes from the blinding light until he was just at the edge of the doorway. With a deep nervous breath he stepped through the doorway, his eyes snapping shut due to the intensity of the white light.

Then in a blink of an eye the light disappeared. Now, he stood in the middle of the hospital courtyard. Just in front of the tower, where Philip had fallen to his death the night before. Kincaid felt the cool night air flutter over his skin, causing his arms to be covered in goosebumps. He opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon a motionless body a few feet to his right.

It was Philip.

His legs were twisted at right angles, his mop of dark hair was soaked in his own blood. While the back of his skull was crushed against the concrete ground, allowing a small flow of blood to continually gush from the cracked bone. Kincaid's breath hitched in his throat as he studied Philip's body more closely. Along the underside of his arms were long thin incisions, as well as along his legs. Like his skin was lacerated downwards along the length of his arms and legs. The wounds were an inch or two deep, his arteries and veins were missing as though they were pulled or yanked out from his limbs.

Thinking back to when Philip sleep walked out of the room the night before, Kincaid's eyes widened at the realisation that Philip's arms were outstretched out in front of him, held in placed strongly by some force. Now, he knew how!

That bastard Freddy must have tore Philip's arteries and veins from each of his limbs, to use them as strings to lead Philip out of the room. Like he was a puppet and Freddy was the puppeteer. Controlling every movement. Making sure that he, Freddy, was in control of Philip's actions.

There was a slow intake of breath, as Philip's body came to. His lips twitched as he hissed, "You should have helped me..."

Kincaid shivered and lifted his gaze towards Philip's blood smeared face. His eyes were bloodshot, his neck twisted around at a ninety degree angle. "I died because of..._you_" his voice was tainted with disdain, taunting him.

"No!" Kincaid began slowly, shaking his head in utter discord, "I didn't know man!"

Philip continued, crimson blood gushing from his lips, "You're nothing but a coward, you let me die..."

Backing away, Kincaid felt even more guilty than he thought he would. Suddenly, the ground began to quake. The walls of the buildings to the front and left of him starting to shake from their foundations. Cracks appeared in the walls, the bricks and concrete crumbling from the walls of each structure. Falling onto the ground. Kincaid jumped into action, sprinting away from Philip's corpse as the earthquake intensified. Piece by piece, large chunks of the buildings plunged to the ground with Kincaid trying to dodge them as he tried to escape from the courtyard as Westin Hills collapsed in on itself. He glanced apprehensively over his shoulder to where Philip was, seeing his body being crushed by a large concrete beam. His skin was squashed, his internal organs spilling from his decimated flesh, blood spurting from the cadaver.

Turning his head back Kincaid skidded to a halt as a large cavernous hole opened up before him, approximately ten feet wide. Inside was total darkness, until a blast of orange and red flames erupted from the depths below. He tried to step backwards, but the ground behind him back to shake, the ground breaking away. He lost his footing and stumbled forward into the cavernous aperture in front of him.

He screamed, feeling the immense heat from the flames below him and snapped his eyes shut, fearing the worst...

However, his body smashed at full force against a hard metallic floor. The flames vanishing in a mere millisecond. Groaning in anguish, he pried his eyes opened and licked his mouth gingerly, tasting his own blood from his busted lip. Pushing himself to his knees he found himself in an all too familiar place from his nightmares. The boiler room.

There was a long piercing screech of metal upon metal, making him stagger to his feet. His skin broke out into goosebumps as Freddy leered heniously, "He's right you know. You're nothing but a weakling. You've no back bone. You let Philip die..." he broke out into maniacal laughter.

"Fuck you Freddy!" Kincaid roared, his fear giving way to rage.

"Ohh" Freddy cooed gruffly, "what a fowl mouth you have boy. I think we will need to_ cut_ out your..." there was a pause. Then Kincaid smelt Freddy's burnt flesh from behind him, in turn making him spin around at the moment when Freddy snarled, "tongue!"

Kincaid froze, his whole body being paralysed with fear as the dream demon brought his bladed glove down towards the teenager's face...

Just when Kinciad thought this life was going to come to a short end, there was a sudden surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins and in a flash he disappeared from the dream world. Much to Freddy's anger.

His large brown eyes snapped opened as his breaths came out in short puffs, his heart beat slowing down from the frantic speed it was at while in his nightmare. He looked up at one of the junior Doctors and Max who were crouched over him. The male junior Doctor held a small needle, "We had to wake you. You were mumbling and twitching in your sleep. It appeared you were having difficulty. Max suggested that we wake you.."

Kincaid exchanged glances with Max, wondering why he suggested that. "Can I go back to my room?" he muttered as he climbed a little unsteadily to his feet.

"Yes. You are to remain there until you're called for dinner. That would be about an hour or so" the doctor ordered and gathered his belongings before leaving the room.

Max grabbed Kincaid's arm as he began to leave the room, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes, it was a stupid nightmare" he lied.

"What about? Do you want to talk about it?"

Kincaid shook his head fiercely. "No, man. I just want to get out of here. I hate this fucking room"

Heaving a sigh of frustration Max watched as the young man exited the room, pondering to himself why he wouldn't open up and tell him what he was dreaming about? But not just him, all of the kids! What were they afraid of?

Rushing into his bedroom, Kincaid slammed the door shut and glumly slumped onto his bed. His thoughts swirling about his mind in disarray. Freddy was right, he was a coward. A weakling. He let Philip go, he left him to die. His shoulders sagged, as a small tear trickled down his left cheek. Wiping his tear away he lowered his head downwards and soon his gaze fell upon a small reddish strain on the ground.

Sluggishly he pushed himself off of his bed and knelt down beside the stain, scrutinizing it closely only to discover that it appeared to be dried blood. There was a few other speckles of dried blood nearer towards the end of Philip's bed and along the side of it. He swallowed thickly, knowing for certain that it was Philip's blood. A vision flashed before his eyes of his nightmare of the veins and arteries missing from Philip's limbs. That was where the blood came from, the lacerations from Philip's arms and legs. The question was, why didn't any of the nurses or doctors notice it? Or had they not entered the room since Philip's death? Whatever the reason was, he had to get rid of it. It needed cleaned up.

He scuttled back to his side dresser and pulled out the first drawer finding a small opened packet of handkerchiefs and pulled one of them out. It may not be the greatest way to get rid of the stain, but his spit had to do.

After a few minutes he had successfully rubbed the blood stains away and had discarded the dirty tissue in his nearby bin. That was that.

There was a soft knock at his door making him jump slightly as he spun around to face Dr Thompson. She gave a small apologetic smile. "I'm sorry if I startled you. I just wanted to check on how you are"

"I've been better" he shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just pissed off with what Dr Sims is doing. Locking us in our rooms? Nightly sedation? What a crock of shit!"

"I understand how angry you feel" she began, "But she is one of the senior doctors on the ward. In her own mind she believes what she is doing is right for you all"

"Do you believe her?" he questioned brusquely.

"No, I don't" she replied curtly, her face grim. "Not one bit. You're more at risk that way, if you are sedated and locked in your rooms. More at risk from your dreams"

He frowned, "Why are you helping us?"

"It's a long story" she turned towards the doorway as a set of footsteps approached the room. It was Dr Gordon. He cleared his throat softly, "I'm sorry to interrupt. But I need to talk to Nancy about something. The shipment that is due to come in tomorrow"

She nodded and turned back to Kincaid, "We'll talk soon. Take care and try and stay awake tonight"

He watched as she left the room, closing the door behind her as she went. Try and stay awake? That was a fucking understatement if there ever was one.

**x x x**

Another session was over for Taryn. It wasn't her normal therapy sessions with either Dr Gordon or Dr Sims, but her drug counselling session. She didn't mind going to the sessions as it was helping her deal with her drug addiction and hopefully leaving that 'shit' behind her for good. It was coming up to two months since she was clean and she was proud of it.

Her feet slapped loudly on the tiled floor as she scurried down the patients ward to where Kincaid's room was. From what she had heard from Max it seemed that Kincaid had a bad dream while in the quiet room. Something that she wanted to find out more about, to see what that fucker Freddy had done to him in his sleep. She came to a stop outside his room and took a deep breath, before gently tapping the door. The door creaked open a little allowing her to poke her head inside. "Um, hi. Can I come in?"

He looked up from his sports book and nodded quickly, a small grin tugging at his lips as he sat up straight in his bed from his lying position. Inside his heart skipped a beat that she was here. Perhaps they could talk some more.

Taryn closed the door shut behind her and hurried over to the end of his bed and sat beside him. "Are you okay? I heard you had a nightmare. Where you..."

"Hurt?" he finished for her. "No, just a bit shaken"

"What happened?" she dared to ask.

"He used my guilt against me"

"Your guilt? About not trying to stop Philip from leaving the room?" she rose an eyebrow.

"Yeah. He fucking played on it. Tried to fuck with my mind. It nearly worked. I let my defences down. He nearly killed me" he sighed forbiddingly. "Thank god the doctors woke me up, pumped that adrenaline into me or I would be dead. You wouldn't be talking to me"

Taryn nodded thoughtfully, "Listen me and Jennifer are going to get a few cans of coke or diet coke from the vending machine later. We managed to get some change, her mother came up and visited earlier. I'm going to ask Max to get us the cans, seeing as we'll not be allowed out of our rooms later. Do you want me to get you some cans?"

"That would be great, thanks. Maybe you two should try and sneak over here tonight? We could keep an eye on each other, make sure we don't fall asleep"

She smiled appreciatively. "I'll let her know" her stature began to become nervous as she then continued, "Um, you said to me last night that you knew about what I said to Max. I hope that I haven't frightened you off or anything. I mean, I'm not sure if you like me or anything..."

He reassured her, "To be honest, I do. I kinda like you too"

She glowered at him in shock. Her face going a rosy red colour in embarrassment. "You do? Really? Or are you just joking with me?"

"I'm serious" he said sternly, "I know I can be brash and joke about in my own way. I can be and have been off with you. Cheeky and well, an asshole. But I just thought that you didn't like me with the way you act around me. So, if people don't like me, I don't like them"

Taryn smiled in disbelief. "I'm the same. I mean, I put barriers up to protect myself from being hurt. I'm afraid to let people near me, to open up my emotions. So that's why I blank people, that I'm anti-social with people. I have this assumption that people will let me down, treat me like shit. Much like I've been treated most of my life"

"That's how I feel. I guess we have something in common. Afraid to show our feelings" he shrugged.

"Yeah. Exactly" she chirped.

"Taryn, hopefully when all of this is over, perhaps we could hook up? Maybe go out for a pizza or something?" he suggested or well, more or less asked.

She grinned, pleased at this. "Yeah, that would be nice thanks. I'm going to go here. It was nice talking. To get our feelings out. I'll see you later with Jennifer. As long as we don't get caught by that cow Dr Sims. Say about 9pm?"

"That's cool. See you then"

Nodding quickly Taryn left the room with a spring in her step. For once in a long while both their moods were a little bit brighter. But for how long?

**x x x**

**Author's Note:** So, here is chapter 5. I hope you enjoyed it. There should be 2/3 chapters left. I'll reply to any reviews/comments that you have when I get back from my holidays. Please review and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.

Paula


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews so far. To let you know the next chapter will be the last and for the purpose of the story there may be some alterations to the original scenes from the film when the remaining Elm St kids battle Freddy for the last time in the dream world (this will be mainly for the characters Kincaid and Taryn)

Also, for the purpose of this chapter the 'funeral' in the NOES3 movie was that of Jennifer's (it never really stated who it was or anything, well from what I remember)

**Chapter 6**

"Do you know where Jennifer is?" Taryn poked her head into Kristens' room.

Looking up from her sketch book, Kirsten shook her head quickly. Her blond locks tied back in a loose pony tail, "Sorry. I haven't seen her. If I do I'll let her know you were looking for her. Are you two planning on trying to keep awake tonight?"

"Hopefully. I'm going to ask her if she wants to stay with me and Kincaid tonight. I'm sneaking into his room later. I'll probably get my ass kicked by Dr Sims. But I couldn't give a fuck"

Kristen shifted on her bed and reached underneath her mattress, "Listen, I've got some caffeine pills that I managed to get a hold of earlier today. You want a few to share with Kincaid and Jennifer? I gave some to Joey and Will"

Taryn's mouth parted in shock, bemused as how she got a hold of them. "How the hell did you get them? The medical room is meant to be locked when not in use. Especially with what happened to Stephen a few weeks back!"

She frowned, "Whose Stephen?"

"Oh, I forgot. You weren't here" Taryn walked into the room and sat beside her, "A few weeks ago, a boy named Stephen Hammond sneaked into the medical room and got a hold of a scalpel and peeled his eye lids off. He was so desperate to keep awake. Everyone was freaked out. The doctors had to sedate him. He was brought to another hospital. But we haven't heard from him since. I think, actually...I_ know_ that he's dead. That bastard got him. After what had happened, the doctors were given strict orders to lock the medical cabinets and any storage rooms if they weren't in use and when leaving the room, even if it was for a few minutes"

Kristen nodded slowly, then declared. "But you see I was allowed in the room. I was being treated by one of the nurses. They were checking my wrist. She was called out of the room for a few minutes and well, I took my chance. I thankfully found this" she shook the bottle. "I hope no one notices it's gone"

"Just keep your fingers crossed. How many is in the bottle?"

"I'm not sure. You can have about 6 tablets. 3 each? Is that okay? If you need more let me know"

Taryn smiled, "Thanks Kristen. Well, I've got to go here and find Jennifer"

"Good luck" Kristen quipped and slipped 6 tablets into Taryn's hand

Leaving the room Taryn closed the door behind her and slid the tablets into her front jean pocket. She gave expectant glances up and down the corridor as she went, hoping to see any sign of Jennifer. Slowing down at the TV room, she pushed opened the door and sighed despondently. The room was empty.

She heard someone clear their throat and spun around to face it's owner, Dr Sims. The doctor crossed her arm sternly and glowered at the young girl. "Should you not be in your room Ms White?"

"I'm trying to find Jennifer" she replied dryly. She wasn't in the mood for this old hag.

"Well" Dr Sims placed her wrinkled hands on her hips, "You better find her quick. I have told Max and Lorenzo that everyone is to be in their rooms before lights out or there will be repercussions for those who do not comply to this rule. As you seen from this morning, anyone who disobeys my orders will be placed in the quiet room for the night. Do you understand"

Taryn nodded sheepishly, "Yeah" she watched as Dr Sims spun away from her heading towards the exit. For Dr Sims, her shift was over until the morning at 8am.

Turning around Taryn jadedly made her way towards the bathroom area at the far end of the hallway. As she neared she heard soft crying coming from inside and gently she pushed the door open, "Hello?" she called, "Jennifer is that you?"

The cries gave way to whimpers and someone clearing their throat. Taryn quickly walked into the bathroom area to see Jennifer leaning against one of the sinks, starting sombrely into the mirror. Her eyes red and puffy from her relentless crying. She gave an apologetic shrug and wiped away a few strand of tears. "Um, uh. Sorry..."

"There's no need to be sorry" Taryn smiled softly, "Are you okay?"

Jennifer turned to face her and shrugged, "Not really. I just can't stop thinking about Philip"

"Yeah. I know what you mean" she paused briefly, then quizzed. "I don't mean to be nosy, but didn't you have a crush on him? I kind of remember you mentioning that to me when I first arrived here"

Instantly, Jennifer's face went red with embarrassment. "Yeah. I did like him"

Taryn moved towards her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder, "I'm sorry that you never got to tell him that. Listen, I'm going to sneak over to Kincaid's room tonight and was wondering you want to come with me? We're going to try and stay awake tonight, I've got some stay awake pills from Kristen. I can get you some?"

"I'm going to get myself a shower first"

"But you're going to come right?"

Jennifer shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and then nodded sluggishly to her question.

As Taryn was about to speak, Jennifer quickly walked towards one of the shower cubicles where her nightwear were hanging. "I'll see you later Taryn"

"You better come over to Kincaid's room!" she called, but her voice was muffled with the sound of the shower that was turned on at full blast. She sighed quietly and left the bathroom area, feeling a bit uneasy. She knew that Jennifer was downbeat about Philip's death, they all were. But she was taking it more personally, it was effecting her badly than the rest of them.

**X x x**

It was now past 9.55pm and Taryn had arrived been Kincaid's room for the last fifteen minutes, now dressed in her nightwear. Well, dark jogging bottoms and white tank top. Her bare feet slapped on the hard concrete tiles as she paced nervously back and forth, wondering where the fuck Jennifer was. She had meant to be here with them. Before venturing over to Kincaid's room she had tried to head towards the TV and games rooms, but was caught by one of the orderlies that was on evening duty. Michael. He was generally nice to them all, but she knew he had strict orders to escort them back to their rooms and so he nearly dragged her back to hers. Then demanded to know where Jennifer was seeing as she wasn't there. She pleaded with him to let her go and find her, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. He declared that he would get Max or Lorenzo to find her as he was meant to be off duty at 9.30pm, which she found slightly suspicious as normally he would be on duty until 10pm. Maybe he couldn't give a shit about them anymore, just like Dr Sims. The bastard.

"Maybe she's back in the bedroom" Kincaid commented from his bed.

"Perhaps. But I honestly don't think she's there" she sighed, "But I'll give it a quick check again" Walking towards the door she pulled it opened and began to take a few steps across the corridor to her and Jennfier's room when a male cleared their throat.

"Taryn. What the hell are you doing?" Michael demanded, knowing too well that this wasn't her room.

"I'm staying in Kincaid's room tonight. Me and Jennifer are. But I don't think she's back in her room. Please just check where she is!" she cried.

"I'll get Max to look for her. He's on in a few minutes. Now, into your room. Or I'll get Dr Carver. He's working late in one of the other wards"

"I told you I'm staying with Kincaid" she spat fiercely.

"You know that's against the rules" he started, then paused. Upon seeing her frightened look and caved in. "Argh, okay. But no funny business right?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded quickly, "Yes, no problem"

He gave her one last stern glare and then ventured down the corridor, checking that Joey and Will were in their room. Then checked on Kristen before half running towards the front desk where he waited for Max and Lorenzo to arrived. He would get them to check for Jennifer, he just wanted out of this place and home to bed.

Suddenly, the double doors of the ward swung open ad Max strode in followed by Lorenzo albeit a little more unenthusiastically.

Max slid his backpack off of his shoudlers and placed it on the counter, rummaging inside for his energy drinks. "Is everything okay?" he looked up to Michael as he pulled on his coat.

"Yeah" he muttered.

Max glanced at Lorenzo as he made himself comfortable in the chair, knowing all too well that the lazy fucker would be there for most of the night. Perched in that chair and glowering at his seedy magazines. He sighed and then turned to Michael again, "Is everyone in their rooms?"

"Everyone apart from that Caulfield girl" Michael slowly began stroll towards the exit, "Taryn is in Kincaid's room, she asked me to tell you to look for her. She might be in the TV room, I haven't checked. Look, I've got to go here. See you tomorrow"

Max frowned as Michael swiftly left, it appeared no one was in a working mood tonight other than him. Some people who he worked with were useless and lazy. They didn't deserve to work here if they weren't going to put in the effort!

He opened one of his energy drinks and took a slug, before shrugging off his jacket and began to head towards the patients wing where he was hoping to find Jennifer safe and sound.

Coughing and spluttering, Kincaid waved the smoke away from his face as he glowered at Taryn. She was on her third cigarette in a row, as she sat on Philip's bed. Smiling apologetically she assured, "I promise this will be the last one"

He swung his legs over the side of his bed and gave her a warning look, as he teased playfully, "It better be"

In response she flicked him the bird, making him chuckle. "I hope that Max finds Jennifer. I'm worried about her. Do you think I should help him look for her?"

"He'll just bring you back to your room" he remarked, "I'm sure he'll find her. He always seems to find us hiding in rooms during 'lights out'"

"I know. But I'm just going to check in my room. I'll be back in a minute or two" she jumped off of the bed and scurried out of the room, before Kincaid could muster a reply or protest.

Prudently she crossed the corridor, her gaze flicking up and down the barren hallway for any sign of Max or Lorenzo. So far, nothing. She approached her room and gently rapped the door three times and then pushed it opened. "Hello? Jennifer?"

The room was shrouded in complete darkness, making Taryn feel on edge. Her hand reached over to switch on the light, expecting to see Jennifer in the dangerous slumber of sleep. However, the room was empty.

A cold tingle went up her spine as she edged further into the room and then she froze, as a blood curling scream echoed from down the corridor. Spinning around she darted out of the room and sprinted straight towards the source of the scream, the TV room in the adjacent corridor. Nearing it she skidded to a halt as she saw Max fling open the door, his body freezing at whatever sight he had witnessed.

Taryn knew who was in the TV room. It was Jennifer, she had recognised the scream before from the girl waking up from he nightmares over the last few weeks. Was she okay? Did she survive her nightmarish ordeal? Taking a short deep breath she sprang forward, her eyes wide with fear as Max turned around to her, "Taryn! Get back to your room, now!"

Disobeying his strong demand, she inched forward towards the room, smelling the strong stench of smoke. She knew it was a big mistake as she peered inside to see the carnage.

Jennifer's legs hung a few feet off the ground, her head rammed into the TV screen which was on fire, smoking billowing into the air. Jennifer's golden locks were now a charred black, her face hidden inside the TV. No doubt marred beyond recognition. Just how did she manage to jump that high? Then it occurred to Taryn. It was Freddy. He got her too.

Taryn finally screamed in horror and was fiercely pushed out of the room by Max. He looked down the corridor seeing Kincaid lingering at the bottom, "Kincaid, get her back to her room! And get Lorenzo up here!"

Kincaid saw the look of apprehension etched on Max's face and knew that whatever shit had happened, that it was very fucking bad. Rushing forward he wrapped his strong arms around Taryn's shoulders, leading her back towards the patients room. She whimpered against his chest, "He got her...he got Jennifer! She's dead!"

He tried to offer her words of comfort as they neared the room. They stopped in their tracks as he heard two doors opening. Kristen, Joey and Will exited their rooms, "What's wrong?" Kristen asked, her face a pale colour.

Kincaid left Taryn's side, muttering. "Taryn will tell you, I've got to get Lorenzo!"

Kristen looked expectantly at Taryn as she ushered them inside Kincaid's room, with Joey pushing Will in his wheelchair. Once inside, the dark haired girl grimly turned to face them, her eyes puffy and red. "Jennifer's...dead"

"What?" Will cried, "How?"

Taryn quickly explained what she saw, seeing each of their faces going a deathly white. They were all growing pessimistic about their chances of survival. Nothing or no one was going to help them. They were doomed.

**X x x**

It had been the day after Jennifer's funeral and the rest of the remaining group had just discovered that they – along with Nancy - were the remaining Elm Street children. Dr Thompson has told them the truth of who the boogie man was invading their dreams. That their own parents were responsible for his death, burning him alive after he was set free on a technicality during his court case. He was charged with the death of at least 20 children over a 3-4 year period. Now, this maniac was after them, wanting to kill each of them for their parents sins!

They were persuaded by Nancy to enter the dream world using Kristen's gift of pulling them into her dream. And through a state of hypnosis they did so. They didn't know how long they were asleep for, but they had each discovered their new-found dream powers and because of this, they had failed to noticed that Joey had slipped out of the room.

Kincaid stood beside Taryn, eyeing her slowly as she was dressed in her punk rock attire. With her dark hair styled upwards in a Mohawk. He shifted a little uneasily on his feet, feeling a little embarrassed as he began, "You know, you look great in this. I mean, you look..."

"Hot?" she teased.

Nodding once, Kincaid concurred, "Yeah. I didn't want say in case you were offended or anything"

"No, I'm not offended at at all" she glimpsed briefly at his upper arms, noticing that they were more muscular than in the waking world. "You have some good biceps. I'm sure you would be good to cuddle up to!" she winked playfully.

He inched closer to her and discreetly intertwined his fingers with hers, "Hopefully, we'll get to try that out soon"

She smiled happily at this thought. But soon her grin faded away as the door slammed shut, the lights exploding at the side table and the bulb suspended on the ceiling above them. The girls shrieked at this, while the men/boys grew wary and on edge. They glanced around realising that Joey wasn't amongst them. Taryn tightened her grip on Kincaid's hand as she heard Kristen and Nancy exchange words. Then the room began to shift, morph. Closing in around them, the concrete materialising into hot scalding metal. There was screams of fright that came from her and Kristen, while Nancy tried to calm them, urging them to stay close.

The ground beneath them rusty and scattered with decayed bodies, most of them were skeletal remains. Taryn stumbled backwards, her shoes crushing against a small child's skull.

She heard someone scream 'this isn't real' and then it dawned on her, that it was her frantic voice that cried out those words. As if she was trying to rationalise to herself that she would get out of this alive, that just maybe everything that had happened – Philip's and Jennifer's deaths – was nothing but a dream. That she would just wake up in her own bedroom in her own house, safe and sound. That everything would be back to normal. A foolish belief, but one that she would hold onto.

Taryn glanced out of the corner of her eye as Nancy spun around to face the door as the handle turned and was flung open...

The world went black and soon Taryn's eyes fluttered opened, as she came to. Her voice was groggy as she groaned softly, trying to shake away the tiredness from her body. Dr Sims ran into the room, kneeling over Joey as he lay strewn on the floor. Placing two fingers against the side of his neck, her voice was stricken with alarm as she shouted over to Dr Gordon. "Code blue!"

Neil stumbled from his chair and fled from the room, away to get the medical team. Dr Sims coldly glared at Nancy as she slowly rose to her feet, "I think you better leave Dr Thompson. I'm not sure what you've done here. But I'll be contacting Dr Carver immediately about this stunt that you've pulled!"

"Stunt?" Nancy rebuked, "I'm trying to help them!"

The older doctor ignored her remark and moved out of the way as two doctors entered the room with breathing and heart monitor apparatus, beginning to work on trying to revive Joey. Calmly she turned to the remaining kids and ordered sharply, "Please go back to your rooms"

Nancy nodded at each of the teenagers and ushered them out of the room into the corridor. She tried to reassure them that Joey would be okay, that they would find a way to wake him up. But those words fell on deaf ears. Each of them knew – including Nancy – that Freddy had Joey trapped in the nightmare. Who knew how long he had to live?

**x x x**

"I want to see Joey" Taryn demanded quietly. Her steely gaze was fixed upon Dr Sims as she stood beside the front desk. It had been nearly four hours after the incident in the therapy room. Dr Thompson and Dr Gordon were nowhere to be found, so the only person she could ask to go and see Joey was Dr Sims.

"I'm sorry but you can't Taryn" she replied, "He's in a critical condition. There is a chance he may not make it. I'll keep you informed of any change in his condition"

She began to protest, but Dr Sims gave her a _'don't you dare_' look, making her bite her tongue and charge back to her room in disgust. Mumbling profanities to herself. Barging into her room she saw Kincaid, Kristen and Will chatting to each other. They ceased their conversation and looked up at her grimly.

"They won't allow me to see him" she breathed sadly.

"Do you know where Nancy is?" Kristen asked.

"I don't know. We have to do something though. Joey's going to die!" she cried.

"But we can't go to sleep, Freddy will just try to separate us like he did with Joey!" Will muttered sombrely.

"But Joey thought he was awake. That was why he sneaked out of the room. Perhaps we should try..." Taryn mused. However, from the looks on their faces she knew no one was in the mood for facing the boogie-man anytime soon. Well, at least not without the help of Nancy.

"We need to find Nancy" Kristen nodded to herself and began to walk towards the door, glancing over her shoulder, "I'm going to go here and see if I can find her. I'll see you later"

They nodded sheepishly, hoping that she would find Nancy and soon.

He knew something was wrong. Kincaid had heard the rumours, namely from the nurses and Michael that Dr Gordon and Dr Thompson were sacked for what had happened earlier that morning.

It had been nearly an hour since Kristen had gone to look for Nancy and it appeared that the rumours had not reached her ears yet. If it was true, then they were all fucked. Freddy had won. Despite there not being any concrete statement from Dr Sims that they had left, he had seen Dr Gordon wander towards his car with a large cardboard box. No doubt filled with his belongings.

An irate voice pierced broke the eerie silence, making him rush to his door and pull it open. He peered around the doorway, seeing Kristen in a heated conversation with Dr Sims. Then he saw her shake her head fiercely. He was unable to hear what was being said, but Kristen was very angry and she was starting to show it. She grabbed an item off of the counter and aimed it at Dr Sims, missing her by inches. Her screams of protest echoed down the hallway, making the hairs on his arms stand up. Lorenzo and Max came from around the counter and lunged towards her, grabbing her arms tightly and began to drag her down the corridor. The destination – the quiet room.

Kristen kicked and struggled against them, "No! You're killing us! You bitch!" she shouted at Dr Sims.

Dr Sims ignored her rude outburst and straightened her coat, her wrinkled eyes glaring at Kincaid and the others as they appeared at their doorways watching as Kristen was hauled down the corridor, still screaming and trying in vain to fight against Max and Lorenzo. Her last few words leaving her lips as she was brought around the corner, "Get Nancy!"

**x x x **

Please review. New readers/reviewers are more than welcomed. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Finally, the last chapter is up and the story is complete! Sorry for the very long wait, please review. Thanks!

**Chapter 7**

Taryn, Kincaid and Will waited impatiently and nervously at one of the pay phones in the corridor, just down from the patient quarters. Will looked up from his wheelchair as Taryn paced back and forth at the phone, waiting for it to ring.

"What's taking Dr Gordon so long?" he mumbled.

"I paged him three times. I don't know what's keeping him! He's probably driving or maybe can't get to a phone...I don't know" she replied curtly.

Kincaid looked at his two friends, ushering. "Just keep calm. We can't start panicking!"

"I know, but I just wish he would hurry up. They've got Kristen in that quiet room, the sedative is bound to kick in soon! She'll be all alone facing that bastard!" she seethed.

Kincaid opened his mouth to reply, but abruptly clamped it shut as the phone rang. Taryn spun around quickly and answered, "Hello" there was a pause, "Dr Gordon, you've got to come straight away! Kristen has a shit attack. Sims doped her and put her in the quiet room!"

She listened intently.

"She can't stay awake for long! She's all alone! Freddy's going to get her!"

Again she listened.

"Just hurry!" she hung up, her face going pale as she headed towards the sleeping quarters. "I need a cigarette"

Kincaid grabbed the handles of Will's wheelchair and pushed him forward, following Taryn to her room and then waited outside. They both held the same fear that Taryn was feeling, the fear that Kristen may be the next to die, to fall prey to Freddy's blades. Throughout the last few weeks they had all grown closer, form their own little friendships, became more than friends in a way. More like brothers and sisters. A family.

He looked up from the ground as Taryn exited her room, grumbling to herself. "Can't believe this, only two cigarettes left"

"You'll have to make them last then" Kincaid mumbled.

"Yeah, where do you think we should wait?"

"What about the TV room?" Will suggested.

Taryn gulped, giving Kincaid an apprehensive look. That was where Jennifer had died, she hadn't been back there since that night. It wasn't a place where she wanted to go, but they couldn't wait in their rooms. Max would lock them inside, under orders from Dr Sims. So, the TV room would have to be the best possible hiding place until Neil or Nancy arrived. "Okay, let's go" she replied, albeit a little reluctantly.

Once at the TV room, Taryn held her breath as Kincaid pushed opened the door. It was the first time anyone had entered the room, even the nurses or orderlies hadn't ventured inside since Jennifer's death. Or well, her _murder._ Her eyes landed on the wall to her right, where the TV had been. Black burnt marks were smudged against the wall and the faint smell of smoke lingered in the air. Or was there minds playing tricks on them due to lack of sleep?

"Woah" Will whispered as he was wheeled into the room, "I didn't realise it was so bad"

"Yeah" Taryn closed the door behind them, "You should have seen her body. Her head was rammed into the TV set. It was awful..."

She lit up a cigarette, staring sombrely out into the car park. Hoping that Neil or Nancy would hurry up. With each passing minute Kristen was nearing closer to the dangerous perils of sleep.

The door to the room suddenly opened, "What are you three doing in here?" Max glared at them.

Taryn took a quick drag of her cigarette, pleading. "Please Max, we just want to stay awake tonight. We're too afraid to fall sleep. We'll only be here for a few hours. Then we'll head back to our rooms" she took a few steps towards him, "Please don't say anything to Dr Sims!"

He crossed his arms, "Okay, but if I hear any noise or if you try and see Kristen or Joey I'll get Dr Sims straight away"

"We won't, we promise" she shook her head quickly.

"Okay. If you need anything just call for me" he nodded and then left the room, closing the door behind him tightly. As he began to stroll down the corridor, he prayed and hoped that nothing else would happen to his kids. He just couldn't bare to lose any more of them. He had cried too many tears over the last few days, he wasn't sure if he had

any more tears left to shed.

He came to a stop at the entrance to the ward. Across from him was the nurse's station where his back pack and his flask of coffee was on the counter. He leaned against the wooden frame of the doorway leading into the ward, starting with suspicion as Nancy Thompson rushed towards him.

He straightened up, pressing his hand against the wall to his right and shook his head as she slowed down to a stop.

Nancy stood her ground, "Max, I need to see Kristen. You don't understand"

He shook his head again, "Save your breath, Dr Sims gave me specific instructions. No one sees Kristen, especially you"

She grimly stared back and begged, "But Max she needs me. She's in danger! You've got to believe me!"

"I really think you mean well" he then tapped his chest, emphasising his next words. His voice was stern, firm and deadly serious, "But my kids have been dying off. And even without Sims orders I wouldn't let you near her"

Nancy's body sagged with defeat, however perhaps she could try and get to Taryn, Will and Kincaid. "Okay Max I understand. Can I say goodbye to the others?"

"I don't know"

"It'll be my last chance" her eyes locked with his, "Please?"

Max couldn't believe he was going to do this. If Sims found out he would be in for a rollicking! "Okay, five minutes. They're in the TV room"

"Thanks" she smiled graciously and strode towards the TV room, flinging the door opened.

Taryn spun around along with Kincaid, while Will looked away from the window. Each of them relieved to see her. "Where have you been?" Taryn demanded.

"There's no time" Nancy replied, "Come on"

"Where?" Kincaid questioned nervously.

"Our last group"

Taryn stubbed out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray and hurried after Nancy, followed by Kincaid and Will. Once inside the therapy room and making absolutely sure the door was securely closed, they settled into their seats. Nancy sat beside the table where the pendulum rested, while Kincaid sat facing her with Taryn to his right and Will to his left.

"Straight talk only in here" Nancy pursed her lips tightly together.

"What about Kristen?" Will asked.

"We can't get to her. I tried" she responded sombrely, "I was hoping that we'd have more time to learn to use the dreams, but Joey's in there. Kristen's going in too. They NEED us"

She slowly looked at them one by one, knowing how scared they were. She was too, it had been so long since she faced that bastard face to face. The other night with Kristen was different, he wasn't in his true burnt form.

Will gulped and asked fretfully, breaking her thoughts. "We're going to go in, to link up?"

"It's now or never. I'm not going to kid you" she said seriously, "This is dangerous. If you die in the dream, it's for real. Nobody has to go in that doesn't want to"

Will took a deep breath, eyes focused and steely with courage, "I'm in"

Taryn clenched her fists and agreed, "Me too"

The three of them looked over to Kincaid whose face was blank, lost in thought. Thinking of his sister, who had fallen to that fucker's bladed claw. This was for her, it was payback time. "Let's go kick the motherfucker's ass all over dreamland"

Taryn smiled brightly and clasped his hand tightly, encouraged by this vigour and determination. He had meant every word he said.

Nancy turned towards the pendulum on the table to her right, ready to set it in motion. "Remember" she began to point out, "you have to stay together whatever happens. That's the only way to we can beat him"

There was a grim silence.

Nancy took a deep breath, "All right. Clear your mind of everything"

She reached over to the pendulum and swung it, letting it go. It swung in a steady fast rhythm back and forth, back and forth...

"Picture yourself in the quiet room..." Nancy continued, her voice soft and serene, "The soft white walls, the total silence...only the sound of your heart beating"

Their eyes were fixated on the pendulum as it continued to swing. Their bodies began to relax, each muscle in their bodies becoming at ease. Eyelids slowly began to grow heavier with each passing second.

"Picture yourself there with Kristen. I'm going to count backwards from five" she pasued, "When I'm done, we'll be asleep. We'll all be in the quiet room"

She got herself more comfortable in her seat, her breathing going slow as he began to count. All of their eyes were now like lead, heavy and drooping shut.

_Five..._

_Four..._

_Three..._

_Two..._

_One..._

Each of the dream warriors snapped their eyes opened, finding themselves in the middle of the quiet room and now adorn in their dream attire. Just as Kristen opened her own blue eyes, their minds linking together and joining into Kristen's dream. They knelt beside her.

Kristen smiled, relieved. "I knew you'd come"

"We wouldn't let you go in alone" Nancy reassured her young patient and friend.

"No way!" Kincaid declared, "We're a team!" he leaned over and gave her a warm hug. Then lent back on his knees and discreetly grabbed hold of Taryn's right hand. He wasn't going to let her go, not in this dream. The mere thought of them being separated made his skin break out into goosebumps!

His thoughts were shattered as Kristen declared, "Listen everybody, Joey needs us! I can feel him"

"Where is he?" Nancy asked, "How do we find him?"

Kristen began to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of fabric being violently ripped apart. The group sprang to their feet, their frantic faces glancing about the padded room as four set of blades began to tear through the padded walls. Feathers spiralled from the walls, fluttering around them as more set of blades tore through the walls at either side of them. More and more fathers floated around them, distorting their view. Their screams of panic echoed in the room.

Kincaid gripped Taryn's hand tightly.

Nancy's voice bellowed out, "Keep together, stay in the middle of the room!"

Taryn shrieked as a set of blades ripped through a wall to her right, missing her body by mere inches. Her grip on Kincaid's hand intensified as he tried to pull her closer to him. Clamping her eyes shut Taryn heard their screams of terror subsiding into the distance until there was only the sound of her and Kincaid's breathing.

She pried opened her eyes and glanced around the darkened corridor of the Elm Street house that they now stood in. Kincaid looked up and down the corridor quickly, "Where are the others?"

Taryn took a small prudent step forward, calling out. "Nancy! Will! Kristen!"

Slowly, the two of them began to prudently edge down the barren corridor. Nearly half way down a small dim light flickered on above them. They squinted their eyes seeing two door ways to their right and two to their left, leading to what they believed to be bedrooms. Scattered about the frayed carpeted ground were broken toys, tricycles, tattered remains of clothing and decayed bodies of young children.

Taryn grimaced at the sight of them and moved closer to Kincaid. "I don't like this" she whispered hoarsely.

At the far end of the hallway was a thick wooden door, which was sealed shut. They came to a standstill, as Kincaid cleared his throat shouting loudly, "Nancy! Kristen! Will! Where are you?"

Taryn tugged on his hand and started to edged backwards, upon hearing steady pounding on the door ahead of them. "C'mon, let's go back" she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening in dread as the corridor behind them was sealed.

Kincaid also glimpsed behind him and cursed lightly, "Fuckng shit"

"Now what?" Taryn jumped as the thunderous pounding grew stronger with intensity.

He turned his head towards one of the side rooms, "Let's try..." He was quickly cut off as the metal door flung open and a fierce powerful gale force wind sucked them towards the pitch black darkness that was behind the door.

Taryn shrieked and with her other free arm grabbed Kincaid's lower arm. He yelled in surprise and with his free hand he somehow managed to grip the doorway of one of the rooms to his left. Groaning with all his strength he tried to pull him and Taryn through the doorway. But the force of the wind was too much, too vigorous.

Feeling the grip starting to loosen on Kincaid's hand and arm, Taryn tried to readjust her grip. But it was fruitless as her left hand that grasped his arm faltered and gave way, falling by her side by the force of the gale force wind. "Kincaid! I can't hold on for much longer!"

Kincaid attempted to heave them both into the room, but felt a strange presence tugged at their hands, trying to separate them. "Noooo!" he roared.

Taryn screamed as an invisible entity wrapped around her waist and violently tore them apart.

From the darkness a hoarse, sinister voice growled triumphantly.

_"COME TO FREDDY_!"

Kincaid closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting go of the doorway. But instead of the wind propelling him forward through the doorway after Taryn, the gale force wind suddenly ceased and the metal door slammed shut. He tumbled onto the ground, grunting from the impact. Lifting his head he glowered angrily at the metal door in front of him and rose to his feet. Time was of the essence, he had to get to Taryn before Krueger did.

_Later on in the dream world..._

The piercing pain stricken screams of Taryn Whyte echoed in the dream world, as Freddy pumped the liquid drug known as GHB into her veins. Poisoning her body with a lethal overdose. Her glazed eyes drooped downwards at the needles that were attached to his fingers. He sniggered venomously and with a snarl, he moaned. "What a _rush!_"

With a menacing grin he yanked the needles from her flesh, ripping her skin open carelessly. Her weak body slithered to the floor, thick white foam spewing from her mouth as she went into a seizure. Her limbs shook and trembled, her legs jerking violently until after a few minutes her body stilled and took her last breath. Freddy cocked his head to the side and smirked, inhaling deeply as the white light that was her soul soared into his chest, "About fucking time!"

Feeling the presence of Kincaid nearing his location, Freddy smirked devilishly and disappeared. His manifestation still lingered close by, wanting to witness the heart in Kincaid's face when he found out his precious whore of a friend was dead. He knew from both their thoughts whenever they were asleep that they had feelings for each. Gah, it made him sick!

Love?

Caring for someone?

Having feelings for someone?

It was fucking pathetic! Nonetheless, it was time to watch that fucker's world fall apart...

Kincaid prudently made his way through the lower level of the Elm Street house, the vast corridors disorienting him until he came across an entrance to a poorly lit alleyway. He knew because of this twisted dream world, that Krueger could manifest anything he wanted, conjuring it up from people's thoughts and memories. He vaguely remembered something about this alleyway. Someone told him about it, but who?

His breath caught in his throat as his deep brown eyes fell upon the slumped body of Taryn, laying sprawled in the gutter. He screamed and ran towards her, "Taryn!" Kneeling at her side, he lifted her body onto his lap and gently shook her. "Wake up, c'mon girl! Open your eyes!"

He studied her body, checking her arms and saw instantly the needle marks. Black and blue bruises surrounded the marks, along with several deep cuts from where Freddy had ripped the needles out of her arms. Her skin was deathly cold, while white foam had dried along her chin and mouth. His eyes scanned down towards her wrists to see that her arteries/veins were bulging against her skin, filled with whatever toxins/drugs Freddy had pumped into her. He let out an anguished sob, trying to gather his composure. But he couldn't as the tears of his grief overpowered him.

Why was he crying like this? He had feelings for her of course, but he didn't realise that they were this strong. That he was in love with her. He stared into her lifeless face. It was true, he was in love with her. Even though he had only known her for a short period of time. But you can't hide your feelings and he certainly couldn't fight how he felt for her.

However, he knew that he had to grieve for her another time. First, he wanted to find out where that bastard was and kill him. Send that fucker to hell, get vengeance for her. He stroked her hair behind her ears, then leaned forward to gently kiss her forehead. His voice barely above a whisper, "I love you"

Laying her head on the ground he pondered on whether to cover her body up, but before he could find anything her body began to fade away, disappearing into thin air. He gulped sombrely, hoping that her soul was now in heaven. But unbeknownst to him her soul was devoured, claimed by Krueger.

_Later... _

Kincaid felt as though he had walked the Elm Street house at least a thousand times. Going in endless circles, through countless corridors and hallways. Just where the fuck was he? And where were the others? Were they still alive? Had they died too? He shivered at this thought.

His ear picked up faint voices from the other side of a wall to his right. Slowing to a stop he inched towards it, hearing two female voices on the other side. Smiling broadly he knew instantly who they belonged to – Nancy and Kristen! He noticed that the wall was beginning to crumble, the plaster looked thin and worn. Using his finger tips he began to claw, chip away at the wallpaper, wood and plaster. Within a a minute or so he had managed to create an opening in the wall, about one and half foot in length and a half a foot in depth. Peering through the gap he saw Kristen and Nancy, whose terrified expressions soon turned to pleasant surprise.

"I thought I heard voices!" Kincaid smiled as be as he could.

"Kincaid!" Kristen beamed in delight, "I could_ kiss_ you!"

He kicked and tore down the rest of the wall, then stated cheekily. "What's stopping you?"

Kristen hurried over to him and hugged him tightly, kissing him on his right cheek. While Nancy also greeted him with a hug. Once they let stepped back, they noticed his grin beginning to fade away. Something was wrong, they knew it. "What's happened Kincaid?" Nancy was afraid to ask.

"Taryn's dead" he grimly replied, "I saw her body"

Nancy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, no words were spoken. But her eyes locked with his, sharing her empathy and sympathy. She knew how much he cared for Taryn. He never said much, but she saw the signs. He reached up with his right hand and squeezed her left that rested on his shoulder, showing his appreciation.

"What happened to her?" Kristen asked, wiping away at her tears, "Did you see her die?"

He shook his head, "No, I didn't. I don't want to talk about it. Not now. I just want to find that bastard" the tone of his voice turned into anger, rage.

"But we've got to find Will" Nancy said.

"He's probably dead too. Otherwise he would be here too. One of us would have seen him. Found him along the way" he paused, his eyes going cold, face determined as he looked around the grimy, worn down room. "Where are you? C'mon out fucker! Come on and show yourself Krueger!"

There was no reply, just an eerie silence.

Kincaid narrowed his eyes, "I knew you were a pussy!" he seethed.

There was a loud metallic clang and the three of them swirled around to face a large dark red metal door, hovering a few inches off of the ground. Nancy grabbed Kristen and Kincaid's hand, as Kristen questioned. "Where does that lead to?"

Nancy braced herself as the door creaked open, a thick wave of hot air billowed out of the doorway. Inside was the low rumbling of machines and boilers. Inside was Freddy's boiler room, the power plant. "This is it"she breathed, "No way back now"

They took slow cautious steps towards the entrance, while Kinciad determinedly growled, "Let's snuff the sucker!"

_After the final battle..._

Kincaid's brown eye snapped opened, his breathing erratic and shallow. He was disorientated, but he knew for certain that they had done it. Krueger was gone. But there was so many losses. His eyes slowly averted to his right, a yell erupting from his throat as he saw Taryn, Nancy and Will lifeless bodies slumped in their chairs. He stumbled to his feet, knocking over his chair and moved back into the corner of the room. What was he going to do? What was he going to say to Max, to Dr Carver and Dr Sims? They wouldn't believe him! They'll never believe him!

The door to the room was flung open, as Max scurried into the room. However, he halted in his tracks seeing the three dead bodies before him. Instantly his eyes flew towards Kincaid, scrutinizing him, suspecting him. "What the fuck happened?"

"They're dead. He killed him" the young man muttered, his body shaking. "But we got him. He's in hell, for good"

"What? Who are you talking about?"

"Freddy!" he murmured.

Max frowned, not sure how to react. Silently, he lead the young man out of the room while Dr Sims and several other medical staff rushed into the room, the alarm having been raised by Annie who had also heard the scream.

The next few days for Kincaid went in as a blur, he couldn't' remember much.

Questions were asked and then asked again. He was questioned by the police and was nearly arrested on suspicion on their deaths. But no evidence was found.

Everything was hush, hush by Westin Hills. They wanted the incidents swept under the carpet, kept a secret. Himself, along with Joey and Kirsten were transferred to the general hospital for a week or so after they attended the funerals of their friends and Dr Thompson. For nearly two to three weeks after what had happened in Westin Hills, Kinciad barely spoke. He wasn't his usual joky, brash self. He was lost in his own little world, numb by the pain of his loss.

Of losing Taryn.

It was two days after being allowed home that he went on his own to her grave. There was a light drizzle, the sky was dark grey. The hood of his red jumper was up, shielding his hair from the rain as he stood in front of the tombstone. In his right hand was single red rose. He felt sick to the stomach, nauseated that he wasn't there for her in her moment of need. That he never protected her from Freddy. Maybe he wasn't such a bad ass mother fucker that he thought he was. Perhaps he wasn't as strong, as tough as he believed.

Over the next few weeks and months he would find out. But it was going to be hard. It was going to be difficult to accept that she was dead, the first person he actually loved. If only he had the chance to tell her face to face. But he would cherish the moments they had together, the bad and the good. He would never forget her, she would always have a place in his heart. The tough, vulnerable girl with the 'take no shit' attitude. Who deep down had a heart of gold. Who knew what would have happened if she had survived? How their relationship would flourish? How their '_tough love_' would develop?

Well, at least his dreams were safe and he reclaimed his dreams back for his own, maybe in his dreams he would be able to fantasize what could have been between them.

If only he knew that his dreams would not be as serene and safe for long, that the nightmare that was Freddy Krueger would return yet again for the last Elm Street brats...

**THE END**


End file.
